Exhibiting a few frames of my life

Friday Fever – My Name is Khan

Last Friday, I have watched My Name is Khan in PVR Priya along with my Wife. Priya is the nearest PVR from our place, and that is why it has become our occasional hang out zone. Moreover, the newly opened KFC added one more reason to it. It was a holiday due to Shivratri and we decided to spend the afternoon watching movie and then having our late lunch (in KFC of course).

Now, let’s come to the movie part directly. MNIK is really an enjoyable movie. For me the best thing about the movie is that it is a very well-made movie. No doubt, I’m an SRK fan, but I like him more due to his personality rather due to his acting skills (I’m absolutely not doubting his acting skills :-)). That is why many a times when I went to watch an SRK-starer, I used to expect some amount of over to top acting attempt from SRK. However, I have changed this notion after watching Swadesh, which is one of my most favorite Hindi movies. In fact, SRK was in his best in Swadesh. In MNIK, I have again seen the glimpse of SRK that I saw in Swadesh. There is No extraordinary effort in the role. It is a simple, plain, and believable performance from him. Also, it is one of the better directional attempt from Karan Joher. Though I am not always fond of KJ’s movies, I liked KANK (don’t be surprised :-)).

Here, I would like to clarify that this is not a review about MNIK; so, I’m not going to discuss about the storyline. Rather I will write what I felt after watching the movie. Apart from being a well-made movie and good performance from SRK, I found the casting very appropriate. Right from Kajol to all other co-stars (including the US actors) of the film have delivered applaudable performances. Here, I’d like to mention Kajol especially, as she is on the big screen after quite a long time. She is perfect in her role and I think KJ did the best thing by pairing her with SRK. Next, the songs in the movie are appropriately timed. You’ll not find any unnecessary songs in the movie. Most of the times, when a song starts in a Hindi movie, the very thought that came to my mind is “Can I just fast forward the song?” But in MNIK, it didn’t happen with me. All the three songs are well picturised and supported with good lyrics and music.

Being a long movie, interestingly, MNIK is able to keep me sitting all through the time without any interruption. Though there’s scope that it can be 10-15 minutes shorter (I’m addicted to watching Hollywood movies, most of which are less than 2 hrs), but that didn’t affect the movie as well as me at all. I was sticked to my seat the whole 2 hrs and 40 minutes, even didn’t go out in the interval. One more thing about the movie I liked is its take on religion and human beliefs. I am able to relate my beliefs to what was portrayed in the movie. That’s something very special to me. The movie is not an out and out entertainer. However, it made me think about the story, the issue, what is really happening nowadays and foremost what we really believe.

After watching the movie, I felt it is not at all over-hyped or over the top kind of movie; instead, I’d like to applaud the efforts of KJ along with his team for giving us MNIK to enjoy and think. At the end, it doesn’t really matter what my name is but what really matters is “who I am” – a good or a bad soul. We must ask this to ourselves.